Three of Malta’s six members of the European Parliament – Roberta Metsola, Therese Comodini Cachia and Miriam Dalli – have just been given awards in recognition of various achievements in different categories, which included justice and civil liberties, energy and corporate governance.

Even if that cynical inner voice continues to question what exactly it is that our elected representatives at the European Parliament achieve, the MEPs in question should be commended and we should feel proud.

Once credit is given where credit is due, one must then move beyond to see where the beef really is, what more needs to be done and how such achievements can be translated into a better life for all of us, in whatever sphere.

Of particular note, apart from the awards themselves, is that all the honoured MEPs share the same female gender. Indeed, four out of Malta’s current six MEPs are female. The three who were honoured internationally, it should be pointed out, were pitted against over 700 other MEPs from across Europe, both men and women.

And, yet, there are still those who insist on favouring women by pushing the idea of positive gender discrimination. Those lobbying in favour come up with 101 reasons why that is necessary. On the other hand, there are those who strongly argue that it should be pretty evident by now that such a measure is not only obsolete but would even amount to an insult towards those whom it seeks to protect.

Undoubtedly, positive discrimination – or, a legal obligation to give advantage to a sector of society perceived as being at a disadvantage – is a measure that, in certain specific and limited cases, has at times proven to be a genuine necessity. Gender discrimination may very well have fallen within these parameters decades ago, when social convention had yet to catch up with the newly-updated, egalitarian legislation.

However, there are strong doubts as to whether this can be said to be true nowadays and the Maltese MEPs’ recent triumph offers yet further proof (if any were ever needed) that positive discrimination based on gender is an outdated way of doing politics.

All things being equal – and, in the vast majority of developed countries, it is safe to say that they are, both legally and socially – there is nothing to hinder women from reaching the same heights as men. Based on their own capabilities, as opposed to their happening to be of the ‘right’ gender.

Positive discrimination based on gender, rather than achieving that which it sets out to achieve, risks giving rise to exactly the opposite situation. Rather ironically, instead of ensuring that women’s undoubted capabilities are recognised for what they are, positive discrimination tends to diminish the entire gender’s achievements. Whether said achievements are deserved, or whether they are the result of a need to fill the gender quota, the reaction from a cynical public is likely to be the same: she only succeeded because they needed to show a woman’s face.

In 2011, a visiting Jerzy Buzek, then president of the European Parliament, remarked on the lack of Maltese female MEPs, suggesting that candidates needed to be given some form of advantage. Thankfully, this suggestion, which flies in the face of the principles of fair elections and of meritocracy, was ignored.

Our female MEPs made it to Brussels on their own steam. And they continued to excel, again, on their own steam.

The message the three Maltese MEPs convey to women is crystal clear: you can do it.

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